- Creatine is gaining popularity for its health benefits beyond muscle building.
- Research shows creatine may boost heart health, brain function, and bone strength.
- Creatine sales have surged, with a 36% increase in the US, despite rising prices.
Creatine — long beloved by gym rats who mix it into protein shakes — is shaping up to be much more than a muscle building and fat loss supplement.
Mounting research suggests it may also boost heart health, protect against Alzheimer's, improve mood, and strengthen your bones.
While researchers typically have a healthy mistrust of supplements, creatine is the rare exception, recommended even among skeptical scientists and doctors: it's reliably safe, relatively inexpensive, and backed by extensive, high-quality studies. And it costs, on average, less than 50 cents per serving.
"I don't know if there's anything on the planet that comes close to creatine from a multifactorial approach," Darren Candow, a top creatine researcher and professor of exercise physiology, nutrition and aging at Regina University in Canada, told Business Insider.
Over the past decade, interest in creatine has skyrocketed, in tandem with research showing it can double up as a longevity supplement. As of May, the US creatine market is worth $456.6 million, up 36% from the prior year, according to data and analytics company Spins.
"As much as we can define a longevity supplement at this point, creatine is probably one of the best in that category," Jordan Glen, supplement researcher and chief science officer for health startup SuppCo., an app that helps users find the right supplements for their goals, told Business Insider.
Creatine drives your muscles to push harder without getting tired
Creatine was first discovered in muscle tissue in 1832. Nearly a century later, scientists started to figure out how it's stored and used for energy in the human body. They experimented with extracting creatine from meat and later synthesizing it in a lab.
But it wasn't until the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 that creatine went mainstream. The British gold-medal sprinters, sharing how they got in shape, gushed about the powerful effects of a little-known supplement: creatine. In 1993, the first commercial creatine hit store shelves, and sales boomed.
So, how does it work?
Creatine is a raw material for producing ATP, a molecule that gives our cells energy.
The majority of creatine is stored in the muscles, where it offers a ready fuel source for high-intensity effort. More creatine can improve strength and muscle gains by providing a bit more energy, helping you push a little bit harder and work out for longer before getting tired.
Our bodies naturally produce creatine through a combination of amino acids. That's only a small amount, though. We can get more of it from some foods like red meat and fish — or, through supplements.
In the past five years, demand for creatine as a fitness aid has spiked, with retail prices up 150% and sales increased by 90% year over year, despite steadily rising costs.
And it's not just for muscle-hungry gym bros.
While men continue to make up the majority of creatine users, about 21% of the creatine buyers are women, according to data from nationwide supplement retailers The Vitamin Shoppe.
At SuppCo, both Glen, the CSO, and Steve Martocci, the CEO, said their wives have recently started taking creatine — reflecting a broader trend of women as a growing consumer base.
What changed?
Martocci pointed to more evidence dispelling the myth that creatine is just for muscle men to bulk up.
Plus, early research suggests creatine can support hormonal health for women, helping to counteract shifts that can occur during the menstrual cycle by helping to maintain levels of glycogen in the muscle for better energy and performance.
Creatine slows aging and boosts brain health, per new research
In June, a small study found that patients with Alzheimer's disease saw a boost to their cognitive function after supplementing creatine.
"We think that just providing more energy to the brain could be useful," Scott Forbes, a sports science researcher and professor at Brandon University who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider.
"The brain actually uses about 20% of your total energy expenditure, even though it only weighs about 2% of your body weight. So for a tissue, it's very energetically demanding," Forbes said.
Creatine also seems to have an anti-inflammatory effect, making the brain more resilient against stresses that would wear down its ability to perform.
"We know that too much inflammation or too much oxidative stress can also lead to poor cognition or poor brain functions," Forbes said.
Other recent studies have found that supplementing creatine could also help to mitigate the effects of aging or a concussion.
"The theory is that the brain can remodel itself or at least maintain its function during times of stress," Candow, the aging researcher at Regina University, told Business Insider. "I don't know anybody in the world that's not stressed."
The new research is expanding creatine's reach to consumers beyond the gym, according to Muriel Gonzalez, president of nationwide supplement retailer The Vitamin Shoppe.
"Creatine is undergoing a major transformation — from a niche sports nutrition supplement to a versatile tool for daily health and longevity," Gonzalez told Business Insider over email.
Total creatine sales have spiked by 300% from 2019 to 2024 at The Vitamin Shoppe, and are continuing to grow at a double-digit pace, according to company data.
Should you be taking creatine?
You'll be disappointed if you expect to transform your life, and health, with a few doses of creatine. A supplement can provide a boost but ultimately makes a relatively small difference. Your overall diet, exercise, and lifestyle are far more important.
Still, the bottom line is that more and more research supports taking creatine for a huge range of benefits, with very little downside.
"I think almost everybody should consider taking creatine," Forbes, the science researcher at Brandon University, said.
Even in high doses over a long time period, side effects are mild, such as gastrointestinal upset and a slight increase in water retention, since creatine pulls water into the muscles.
"Overall it's one of the safest supplements out there," Eric Gonzalez, a neuroscience professor at Texas Christian University who has studied creatine, told Business Insider. "If anyone wants to go on a supplement, creatine won't hurt you, there's only going to be an upside."
If you're losing weight — including those on a GLP-1 drug that triggers weight loss — creatine can help you retain muscle mass, promoting a higher ratio of muscle to body fat.
For those looking to boost brain health or mood, early studies suggest that 10-30 grams a day may be beneficial.
Glen previously conducted research on senior Olympians who took creatine and found it helped them get stronger and faster while avoiding age-related decline.
"We're never too old to take creatine," he said.
